Quick Response codes, or QR codes, have increasingly grown in popularity and usage over the past decade, especially with the increase of social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In past years, you might have occasionally seen a QR code that led to an app download or social media account. But over the past several […]
Quick Response codes, or QR codes, have increasingly grown in popularity and usage over the past decade, especially with the increase of social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In past years, you might have occasionally seen a QR code that led to an app download or social media account. But over the past several months, QR codes have been everywhere, from restaurants to college campuses.
QR codes are read by digital devices which then translate the code into some form of media, such as a website or photo. With the widespread use of smartphones with QR code reading capabilities, it’s easier and more efficient than ever to use QR codes for your business needs. Continue reading to learn more about QR code benefits for businesses.
Why You Should Use QR Codes for Your Business
It’s possible that when you think about QR codes for businesses, you think about social media promotions or a code that simply brings you to a homepage. But QR codes can do so much more for your business than promote it. Especially if you’re in the retail or manufacturing industries, you’ll be amazed at how QR codes can make your business processes more efficient.
Here’s why you should start using QR codes for business ASAP:
Information has never been more accessible: QR codes make getting information much quicker and easier. By scanning the code, you’re immediately shown the information you need, rather than having to click through several apps or type a search. This ease of use is something customers love to see.
Everyone has a smartphone: Nowadays, everyone has a smartphone — even your grandparents. Why waste time and resources trying to find out what your customers want when a technology that tailors to everyone’s needs exists? Catering to your customers’ needs is always a win.
Minimizing waste is crucial: For restaurants in particular, waste can be a significant issue. With QR codes, you eliminate the need for paper menus — displaying small QR codes at each table or bar that customers can scan to see your menu reduces waste while making life easier for hosts and servers.
How to Use QR Codes in Your Business Operations and Production
QR codes have recently changed in the production process, making things easier than ever before. Many industries are switching out traditional UPC barcodes for QR codes because of their advantages — the cons of QR codes compared to UPC barcodes are few and far between.
The pros of QR codes include:
Store more information: UPC barcodes can only be read top to bottom, whereas QR codes can be read in multiple directions. QR codes can hold up to 4,000 characters of data — in one code! This means that QR codes allow for more than 300% more storage than traditional barcodes. QR codes can show all product information in one place.
Ease of use: Because QR codes can be read in any direction, they can also be scanned at any angle. There’s no more time wasted trying over and over again to scan a pesky vertical UPC barcode. QR codes can be read with a smart device camera in just seconds.
Printing capabilities: QR codes can be created and printed in seconds, saving you a lot of time when trying to get products ready to ship or sell on the retail floor. In addition, QR codes can hold all product information including product name and information, serial number and lot ID. With QR codes, you can pull up all of the information about a product within seconds. Then, with a QR code printer, you can have the product information printed and placed on the product in less than a minute.
Digital tracking: Gone are the days of leafing through papers or clicking page after page to find old product or company information. QR codes will store all data and make it simple to find, saving time and energy. Use QR codes to help you pick and pack more efficiently and reduce errors.
QR Codes for Small Business Marketing
Did you know you can use QR codes for marketing, too? Aside from more functional uses like restaurant menus, you can use QR codes to promote your business in numerous ways. Here are a few examples:
Marketing and Branding
It’s incredibly simple for people to scan a simple code that takes them to your website or social media, so they’re much more likely to do that than write down a phone number or take a business card. QR codes have been proven to increase the likelihood of someone completing the code’s desired action, such as visiting your website, filling out a form or making a purchase. Plus, creating a code that links to your social media promotes more engagement and sharing of your brand.
Along with this point, QR codes also help you measure the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. By using a code rather than sharing your website’s URL, you can measure how many people scanned the code, clicked on your website or made a purchase. By using QR codes for business marketing, you’re able to see their effectiveness firsthand.
Promotions and Measurement
Another idea for applying QR codes to your business operations is to utilize them for limited-time promotions or discounts. If you publicize that scanning the QR code will gain customers a $10 off discount, they’ll be more likely to make a purchase. Consider creating separate codes — one for a promotion and one for your normal website, for example, to measure the effectiveness of your promotion.
Reviews
QR codes can also be used in business branding for sharing customer testimonials and reviews. Many people are slow to trust businesses when they first encounter them. However, by reading good reviews of your business, customers become reassured they can trust your business to follow through on promises, gaining you more business.
When you start using QR codes for business purposes, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how they can positively transform your operations and efficiency. Why continue to spend time looking through pages of information when you can simplify your business processes with QR codes?
Simplify Your Inventory Management With Help From Finale Inventory Today
Finale Inventory offers solutions with your business in mind — our services help you process orders faster, find and pick products more easily, integrate marketplaces and much more. Stop using antiquated methods of inventory management and warehouse processes. If you’re ready to improve your business’s efficiency, schedule a demo or start your free trial with Finale Inventory today!
“The core of maturity, that I see, is starting with a unified view of inventory. I’ve got to be able to accurately represent what do I have, make sure that I know where it’s located so I can get it to my customers quickly.”
— Troy Graham, Descartes
What is the first thing I should fix if I want to scale operations?
Start with a unified view of inventory. The core of maturity starts with being able to accurately represent what you do have and make sure that you know where it’s located to get it to customers quickly. Without a unified view across your warehouses, 3PLs, and vendors, you cannot make the best decisions because you don’t have the best information at hand.
With Inventory Visibility, Businesses Can Make Smarter Allocation Decisions
Once inventory is centralized, businesses can move from reactive updates to intentional allocation. They can decide how much inventory to expose to each channel, when to use buffers, which marketplaces need extra protection, and how seasonality or campaign performance influence availability.
Once I know what inventory I have, how should I decide where to make it available?
Inventory allocation should reflect where orders are coming from, where marketing is working, and which channels carry the most risk. Once you know what you have and where it is located, you can think more strategically using centralized inventory to make prioritization happen automatically. One fertilizer company lost a little over 5,000 orders in one weekend because someone manually uploaded the wrong available inventory to Amazon.
Better Inventory Data Improves Planning, Purchasing, and Growth Bets
Better visibility turns inventory data into a planning tool. With insight into sales velocity, inventory levels, vendors, and channel performance, businesses can make more informed replenishment decisions, avoid overbuying, and test new product lines or vendor-supplied inventory without taking on unnecessary risk.
“You have to have unified inventory to know how to price your products just at that basic level. I can’t price my products if I don’t know the true cost to get it.”
— Mike Bernico, Flxpoint
How does better inventory data help me make smarter buying decisions?
It lets you measure whether your plan is working before you commit more capital. A key question becomes: “Did my plan work? Am I overleveraged in one place or another?” Centralized systems can also help businesses test new product lines or vendor relationships by looking at sales velocity by channel, allowing them to take risks in a calculated and measured way.
Intelligent Order Routing Turns Inventory Complexity Into Automation
Once inventory and supplier data are reliable, businesses can automate fulfillment decisions. Orders can be routed based on cost, speed, margin, location, warehouse priority, vendor fallback, split-shipment rules, or customer expectations. This helps hybrid fulfillment scale because every order does not need a manual review.
How do I decide the best way to fulfill each order?
There is no single answer, which is why order routing needs to account for the context of each order. Intelligent order routing is not just sending an order to someone who has stock; it is taking each and every order and treating it like its own unique use case. Depending on the order, the business may prioritize speed, margin, an internal warehouse, vendor fallback, or preventing split shipments.
Supplier Inventory Sync Extends Inventory Beyond the Four Walls
For hybrid fulfillment to work, supplier inventory needs to become part of the operating model. Supplier sync does not always require advanced technology; it can happen through automated files, FTP, email, APIs, EDI, or ecommerce storefront integrations. The key is replacing manual updates with automated, reliable supplier data.
Can supplier inventory really be treated like part of my own inventory?
Yes, but the goal is not necessarily to force every supplier into a complex integration. Real-time supplier sync can be defined as any way to get an automated update from a supplier, such as Google Sheets, email, FTP, API, EDI, or ecommerce storefront connections. The key is that accurate supplier stock is foundational. If you don’t have an accurate view of what is in stock with your suppliers, you cannot tell your sales channel accurately what’s available.
Exception-Based Workflows Keep Humans Focused Where They Matter
Automation does not remove people from the process. Mature operations let technology handle the routine majority while humans focus on exceptions, such as high-value orders, fraud risk, compliance requirements, restricted products, export rules, or unusual fulfillment scenarios.
If my business has special cases, can automation still work?
Yes. The point is not to automate every possible decision; it is to automate the routine work and surface the exceptions. Businesses should not have to look at every single order. Instead, technology can highlight high-value orders, risky locations, or compliance requirements. The goal is to take care of the 80% of workflows that are obvious while still allowing human review when specific exceptions arise.
The Right Inventory Technology Should Fit the Business, Not Overwhelm It
Software decisions should be based on business fit, not popularity, feature volume, or broad “all-in-one” promises. Growing ecommerce businesses should identify their highest-impact bottleneck, prioritize what matters now, and choose technology that is right-sized but flexible enough to support future phases of growth.
How should I choose software without overbuying or picking the wrong system?
Start with your priorities, not the biggest feature list. Avoid an all-in-one system that claims to “do everything under the sun” and look for a “best of breed approach” with systems that can scale as you add channels or vendors. The practical advice is to stack rank what matters now, make sure the system can support future phases, and choose technology that fits your business rather than overwhelming it.
How to Scale Ecommerce Operations Beyond Spreadsheets
For many growing ecommerce businesses, Finale and Flxpoint work together as a practical answer to these challenges. Finale helps centralize and manage internal inventory, purchasing, warehouse operations, and stock visibility, while Flxpoint helps connect vendor inventory, automate supplier sync, and route orders across hybrid fulfillment networks. Together, they give businesses a best-of-breed way to improve inventory accuracy, reduce spreadsheet work, and scale fulfillment without forcing every process into a one-size-fits-all system.
Ecommerce Fulfillment Operations FAQ
What Is Ecommerce Fulfillment Operations?
Ecommerce fulfillment operations are the processes that move an online order from purchase to delivery. This includes managing inventory, syncing product availability across channels, routing orders to the right warehouse, 3PL, supplier, or vendor, and making sure the customer receives the right product on time. As discussed in the webinar, fulfillment is no longer limited to “what’s in my warehouse these days”; growing businesses may rely on internal warehouses, 3PLs, marketplace fulfillment services, and supplier inventory at the same time.
What Are Ecommerce Fulfillment Operation Examples?
Examples of ecommerce fulfillment operations include updating inventory across Shopify, Amazon, Walmart, and other sales channels; allocating inventory to specific marketplaces; sending orders to an internal warehouse, 3PL, or vendor; syncing supplier inventory through files, APIs, EDI, email, or FTP; replenishing warehouse stock based on sales velocity; and flagging exceptions such as high-value orders, compliance requirements, or restricted products. In the webinar, the speakers also discussed hybrid fulfillment examples where a business may fulfill some products from its own warehouse and use vendors as a fallback or extension of available inventory.
How Can I Track My Inventory at an Ecommerce Fulfillment Center?
The best way to track inventory at an ecommerce fulfillment center is to create a unified inventory view that shows what is available, where it is located, and how that inventory connects to each sales channel. That means tracking inventory across internal warehouses, fulfillment centers, 3PLs, marketplace fulfillment programs, and supplier locations instead of relying on disconnected spreadsheets. The webinar emphasized that businesses need to “accurately represent” what they have and know where it is located so they can get products to customers quickly.
How Can I Connect My Inventory to My Supplier?
You can connect supplier inventory through several methods, depending on what the supplier supports. The webinar discussed low-tech and advanced options, including automated Excel or CSV files, Google Sheets, email updates, FTP servers, APIs, EDI, and direct connections to ecommerce storefronts such as Shopify, BigCommerce, or Magento. The key is to ask suppliers how they share inventory today, then use a system that can automate that data flow instead of manually copying supplier inventory into spreadsheets.
What Is Ecommerce Order Routing?
Ecommerce order routing is the process of deciding where an order is fulfilled from after a customer buys. In a simple operation, every order may go to one warehouse. In a more complex or hybrid fulfillment model, the best fulfillment source may depend on inventory availability, shipping speed, cost, margin, customer location, warehouse priority, vendor fallback rules, or whether the order should be split. The webinar described intelligent order routing as treating each order like its own use case, so businesses can automate the best fulfillment decision without manually reviewing every order.
